Distinction of Species
by J. Maria
Summary: While the Watcher's Council created Slayers out of necessity, the Genetics Council created the Breeds out of greed. When the New Council learns what happened, what will they do to help the Breeds survive?
1. A Salve to Old Wounds

Title: Distinction of Species  
Author: Jmaria  
Rating: FR-18  
Disclaimer: Joss owns his people, Lora Leigh owns the Breeds.  
Summary: While the Watcher's Council created Slayers out of necessity, the Genetics Council created the Breeds out of greed. When the New Council learns what happened, what will they do to help the Breeds survive?  
Spoilers: General series through _Bengals Heart_. Series for Buffy.  
A/N: Okay, so I'm finally reading _Bengals Heart_ (yeah, I know it came out last year, but honestly, I'm killing time until _Styx's Storme _comes out, so I'm putting off reading _Lion's Heat _as long as I can).  
The Breeds series (which is _definitely_ not for anyone under 18 for its graphic nature) is one of the more unique paranormal romance series out there. There's no vampires, and the Breeds can't shape-shift. It's also set in 2017, so we're changing that. The prologue is set in 2004, which would be when the Breeds came out in my version of the timeline.  
Also, the paragraphs in italics are lifted from _Megan's Mark_, the first of the books published by Berkley (not the first in the series however - the first eight were published by Ellhora's Cave). Something along those lines have appeared in most of the stories from the very beginning.

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Distinction of Species

A Salve to Old Wounds

Monsters. That was what this pseudo Council had sought to create, and honestly, that shouldn't have come as a shock any of the people gathered in the Watcher's Council offices of London. Hadn't the original Council - those shaman way back when - done the same damn thing? Creating a warrior that was better, stronger than the average human?

__

They were created, not born; trained, not raised. They were never meant to be free, to laugh, to play or to love. They were men and women who whose souls had been forged in the fires of hell.

Faith's hands had shook at the videos of what had been done to this newer Councils creations. Male, female, all too damn young when they were slaughtered, deemed imperfect creations by their creators. Hadn't the Watchers Council done the same thing - or at least _tried_ - to her when she'd fractured?

_They were Breeds. Genetic alterations that had somehow found the grace of God, or whatever deity existed. They had survived, not just the genetic alterations, but also the cruelties their creators had heaped upon them for decades._

Giles had feared that they had once been an offshoot to the Old Watcher's Council. And he had a sneaking suspicion that they had been the true inspiration behind Maggie Walsh's Initiative. His hands clenched against the age old wood of his desk when he recognized those lost looks in the eyes of the victims.

_The Genetics Council had been created nearly a century before, a group of the greatest scientific, biological, physiological and genetic experts in the world at that time. They had funded the first lab, started the first experiments. Monsters with no conscience, no remorse and no compassion._

In the end, the vote had been cast, and the New Watcher's Council had decided they would do whatever they could to aide these people.

They never knew that some of their own had been used in the experiments the Genetics Council had run in their underground labs.


	2. Behind the Scenes

Title: Distinction of Species  
Author: Jmaria  
Rating: FR-18  
Disclaimer: Joss owns his people, Lora Leigh owns the Breeds.  
Summary: While the Watchers Council created Slayers out of necessity, the Genetics Council created the Breeds out of greed. When the New Council learns what happened, what will they do to help the Breeds survive?  
Spoilers: General series through _Bengal's Heart, _and the anthology _Hot for the Holidays_. Series for Buffy.  
A/N: Set ten years after the Breeds came forward. The main characters of this piece will not show up until the next part. And the BtVS people are a bit ooc in this part. Or, you know, they all spent a lot of time together and picked up some nasty, er cool traits.

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Distinction of Species

Behind the Scenes

Buffy Summers frowned at Jonas Wyatt, the Director of the Bureau of Breed Affairs. Not many people got along with Jonas, and it was no surprise that the man was still single. He was good looking, yes, but then most Breeds were good-looking.

"How many times do I have to tell you, Wyatt, that the NWO had nothing to do with the Genetics Council?" Buffy sighed, wishing it didn't have to be _her_ to come and speak with the stubborn Lion Breed.

"Wanna go into detail about the Initiative?" Jonas answered her question with a question.

"Wanna remember that _I _was the one to bring it down?" Buffy smiled sweetly at him. "And that I supplied your people with adequate back-up to watch out for your people when you were just setting up your compound?"

Buffy had sent her best slayers in to cover their asses those first harrowing months when no one knew what kind of backlash to expect from the Genetics Council. Her slayers had also been in on most of the lab raids to help save those Breeds still trapped by the Council.

"And even if we were, why the _hell_ would we have worked so hard to keep your people safe from them?" It was an old argument. Jonas was suspicious by nature, most of the Breeds were. They'd had a lot of shit roll downhill on them before. "What's this about, Jonas?"

He narrowed his eyes at her, his jaw tightening and his nostrils flaring. It unnerved her when he did that - the big act as if he could scent a lie in her words. She cocked her brow at him and just waited.

"New group of Breeds came in a few days ago. One of them struck us as _odd_."

"Odd how?"

The Breeds had had over a decade to be out in the world. They'd mixed with things they'd never known before. True shifters, vampires, demons, witches, slayers - all the darker-nature based creatures. Part of the NWO's growing concern had been that one of these other groups would try and turn or infect the Breeds. They weren't entirely human, so the usual vampire bite might not have the same effect on a Breed than it would have on a full human.

"Lawe thought he'd seen a few of them before, when he was assigned that protection detail for Harris," Jonas looked pissed, but Buffy wasn't sure if it had something to do with the fact that he still owed Xander for that favor that he'd done or if he was just remembering having to deal with Xander.

"But Xander was on _your_ land, helping to design the housing for your people ten years ago. Why is Lawe just recognizing them _now_? And what do you need me for?"

"To verify that you know them."

_"Them_ as in more than one?"

"That's what I said."

"And if I do?"

Jonas only stared at her. She stared right back at him. That was the problem with being alphas, neither one of them was willing to back down in the slightest.

"You gonna show me the pictures, or did you just want to stare lovingly into my eyes all day? Because I don't think that'll sit well with your _secretary_," Buffy smiled sweetly at him.

Jones glared at her, but grudgingly pushed the pictures her way. The smile evaporated quickly as she recognized the faces in the photos.

"No they _fucking _didn't!" Buffy hissed, tears stinging her eyes. "Who could have done this?"

"So you do recognize them. Interesting."

In the end, with the help of the Council's most senior watchers, they identified five of the ten Breeds. Not by the names the Breeds had registered under with the Bureau, but by the names of their genetic donors: three females and two males.


	3. If I Die Young

Title: Distinction of Species  
Author: Jmaria  
Rating: FR-18  
Disclaimer: Joss owns his people, Lora Leigh owns the Breeds.  
Summary: While the Watchers Council created Slayers out of necessity, the Genetics Council created the Breeds out of greed. When the New Council learns what happened, what will they do to help the Breeds survive?  
Spoilers: General series through _Bengal's Heart, _and the anthology _Hot for the Holidays_. Series for Buffy.  
A/N: The group originally was just going to be a generic group of Breeds, but my mind works in mysterious ways. Also, a hint at another 'verse in here.

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Distinction of Species

If I Die Young

They had been a tight-knit group despite the difference in their Breed species. Half of them were Feline Breeds - two had been Lion Breeds, two had been Jaguar Breeds, and the final had been a Bengal, not that she'd owned up to it. Begals were rare - most had been massacred in their lab in Germany over a decade ago, except for Cabal St. Laurents, the so-called Playboy of the Breeds who'd recently mated with the human journalist Cassa Hawkins. And Bengal females were nearly unheard of.

Three of the remaining five were Wolf Breeds, and the last two were Coyotes. Wolves and Felines together were a rare enough combination - the Coyotes were downright unusual. But much like Callan Lyons' original group, the ten saw themselves more as a family. No one was sure when they had escaped the labs - in the original break-outs twenty years ago, or in the ensueing backlash of Callan Lyons coming out for Breed Rights. They were younger - mostly in their early twenties, so in all likelihood, they'd escaped later.

The little Bengal female was currently going through her workout routine, fully aware of the eyes on her lithe form from the building across the way. The Lion and Jaguar males were protecting her, standing between her and whomever was watching her. The Coyote female was pretending to sunbathe, her glasses reflecting the sun up into the eyes of the Bengal's watcher.

"Where are the other six?" Buffy asked, noting how their eyes seemed to flit away every few seconds.

"There are _six_ more?" Xander frowned at her, interrupting whatever it was that Lawe Justice had been about to report.

"The Coyote male is pretending to install the satellite dish over there, the two Feline females are having lunch at the doors, the Wolf males are on guard duty and are probably being kept in the loop by the Wolf female -"

"That looks like Molly," Xander hissed painfully, remembering the Potential who'd fallen the same night hed lost his eye.

"Registered under the name Melina LaVelle," Jonas crossed his arms as he leaned against his desk.

"She did what now?" Xander tore his gaze away from the small group. "She looks a teenager. Molly would have been Dawnie's age."

"It's not Molly, Xander," Buffy shook her head, seeing the Bengal girl fully for the first time. "My God."

"Is that -"

"Kelsi Gordo," Lawe added, stepping back beside Jonas and the other Enforcer Rule Breaker.

"I knew her as Kendra," Buffy shook her head, angry beyond belief about what had happened to her girls, her soldiers.

"She's more like a genetic alteration," Jonas frowned at their backs. "She's got the DNA coding of your girl, but genes of the tiger as well."

"These ten crawled out of a Genetics Council lab in Asia about ten weeks ago. Enforcers followed rumors about poachers living up in the mountains near Tibet."

"Oh, God, Oz," Buffy felt ill. They hadn't heard from him in nearly fourteen years, not since his return to Tibet to regain control over his wolf.

"I didn't fit. Not the right combination of genes."

Buffy and Xander dragged their gazes away from the window and the two Breed females they could identify clearly. Daniel Osborne stood in the doorway, a tall leonine Breed by the name of Mercury Warrant stood behind him. The years hadn't been kind to their friend, who now wore scars across the left side of his face. His once colorful hair was a paler red than it had been before and he limped into the room by use of a cane. A small smile touched his lips when he gazed out at the group of misfit Breed warriors.

"They liked to drug me and throw me into the cages as training exercises for the younger warriors on the full moon, see who came out on top." Guilt and regret filled his eyes as he lowered his head. "They never let the Breeds kill me, but they let me kill the Breeds."

"Oz, who did this?"

"The Old Council, the Initiative, both of them were _deep _in the pockets of the Genetics Council in the end," Jonas supplied that information. "We didn't know that until they showed up, or else we would have never taken aid from your group."

"I actually had that figured out," Buffy snapped, beyond angry. "How did they get you, Oz?"

"Maggie Walsh had one of her cronies tag me before I left Sunnydale for good. She'd already been kicked out of the Genetics Council for trying to create Demon Breeds by the time she'd gotten the Military R&D contract."

"And the girls? How did they get a hold of the potentials DNA?" Xander shook his head, trying to get a better understanding of it all through the force of his brain smacking against his skull. It just wasn't happening.

"Kendra's old Watcher," Oz looked away. "Always wondered why he sent her by herself."

"He was hoping she'd die, and he'd get access to new meat," Rule shook his head.

"We ran his financials. Your boy Zabuto had a cozy little nest egg rounding out to six figures," Jonas looked feral.

_"Had_," Oz's eyes were shuttered when he met Buffy's gaze. "He didn't make it out of Tibet."

"The others - who were their genetic donors?" Buffy only accepted what had had to be done to the rogue Watcher, just as she had accepted what had had to be done to Gwendolyn Post. Bad guys paying the price for their misdeeds.

"The males - McNally, Miller -"

"Wait, _Graham_ Miller? He's still alive," Buffy should know - she was engaged to the ex-soldier.

"Walsh's _contribution_ to keep her grants funded."

"How did they get Jesse -" Xander looked away from the Wolf Breed, who'd now scrambled down to wrap an arm around the Coyote female who punched him lightly in the shoulder. Seeing what could have been his best friend's son, his hair darker than Jesse's had been and a few other slight changes hit him hard. Jesse had died before Maggie Walsh's soldiers ever came to Sunnydale.

"James McNally was Special Forces before he was dishonorably discharged - that's how he got the Trainers job in the labs," Jonas supplied the information that Xander vaguely remembered. Jesse's dad hadn't been around much, and his mom had moved away after Jesse went missing their sophomore year.

"The other three females, who are they Oz?" Buffy turned to the werewolf, because she was just dreading what was coming next.

"The Lion female - she's -" Oz couldn't meet her eyes. "They got the sample from you, just like they got the Coyote female from Faith's sample. The Jaguar female came from Nikki Wood."

"Slayers betrayed by the Council, now why doesn't _that_ shock me?" Buffy strained to see the female that had been made from part of her. The younger woman didn't look like her, not the way that Kelsi looked so much like Kendra, and Melina looked like Molly. She asked why that was.

"They had another genetic donor," Oz supplied, a small smile on his face. "Jamie hacked the lab before we got out. She managed to get the lead researcher's records on them."

"And Jamie is?"

"The Jaguar. Nikki Wood's daughter. Jamie Nikko was the name she'd given herself before she'd known who her mother was."

"And who were the other genetic donors?"

"One they liked to use a lot went by the name of Winchester," Oz shook his head. "I was never sure if it was just one guy though."

* * *

While they spoke, the group below wondered why they were under such scrutiny. Kelsi, finished with her exercise, sauntered over to where Jamie and the lion Breed female Jocasta Williams were waiting for her.

"You feel the eyes on you, Kels?" Jocasta spoke quietly so that the group of Breeds across the way couldn't hear her.

"Does a bear shit in the woods?" Kelsi grinned at her.

"Lovely imagery," Jamie shook her head. "Sampson said he spotted Oz going into the building not long after VIP car pulled up. Wished I would've thought to bug him."

"Wyatt would have found the bug on the old man, and then where would you be? On Jonas Wyatt's bad side," Jocasta argued.

"He has a _good_ side?" Jamie shook her head. "Warrant walked him up. Oz wouldn't be in trouble, would he?"

"He's a werewolf, Jam," Kelsi shrugged. "Breeds might be out, but the shifters - no one knows they're out there. People might think they're Breeds gone horribly wrong."

"No one's gonna lay a finger on Oz," Jocasta's nostrils flared. "He's _ours_."

"Settle down, Jo," Kelsi clasped her wrist. "No one's touching our old man."

Oz was only a decade or so older than them, but he'd gone through hell in the labs with them and had done his damnedest to protect them even when his beast took over. He hadn't wanted to hurt them, but none of them had been given that option. He was the doctor's only werewolf - the rest of them were expendable.

"Anybody else think a shit storm's headed our way?" Jamie sighed, watching the window they were being watched from.

"When hasn't there been?"


	4. Do Unto Others

Title: Distinction of Species  
Author: Jmaria  
Rating: FR-18  
Disclaimer: Joss owns his people, Lora Leigh owns the Breeds (Kripke owns the Winchesters)  
Summary: While the Watchers Council created Slayers out of necessity, the Genetics Council created the Breeds out of greed. When the New Council learns what happened, what will they do to help the Breeds survive?  
Spoilers: General series through _Bengal's Heart, _and the anthology _Hot for the Holidays_. Series for Buffy.  
A/N: I've sort of figured out who is whose (and what they look like in my head).

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Distinction of Species

Do Unto Others

Oz shifted uncomfortably in his seat. One too many blows to his hips had given him the gait of an eighty-five year old man instead of one in his thirties. His kids would be here soon enough to demand answers to questions he wasn't sure he wanted to answer.

"Wondered where you'd snuck off to," Maxi Lane leaned against the doorway, her dark hair falling over her eyes so he couldn't see what she was really thinking. Her twin hovered behind her.

"Jocasta'll skin you," Sampson Lane warned.

"Do I look frightened of that little pussy cat?" Maxi rolled her eyes as she sauntered over to snuggle in next to Oz. Despite his monthly volatile nature towards them, his kids still granted him skin privileges.

Oz fought the smile - that same smile he'd been fighting for ten years, when he'd first met the then thirteen year-old Jocasta and the nine year old Maxi. They were very much their mothers' daughters. Jo, being the eldest of them all, took charge over all of the Breed kids. And she was always the first to pay for playing the leader.

He could still hear her screams at night, of when the doctors would send in their soldiers to 'experiment' on the Bitch queen, as they called her. He'd thoroughly enjoyed the following full moon, when he'd gotten his beast in check long enough to consciously rip out the throats of those four guards. They might not care about killing a young Breed female, but he was too valuable to permanently damage.

"Don't say I didn't warn you," Sampson hunkered down on the floor, his eyes glued to the TV Oz barely remembered turning on.

"They want us to go to Haven, I think. Can you see me and Sammy bowing down to Wolfe or Del Rey? I don't bloody think so," Maxi huffed.

"Nope," Oz smiled fully. "They can ask Jo what you think about taking orders."

"Damn skippy," Maxi grinned. "Where were you today, Growl?"

Maxi, Sampson and Melina - who was two years younger than them - always called him Growl, and he had half memories of the littlest females curling up to him in the cages when he was coming off a night of the drugs. He wasn't their Alpha, but the two Coyotes and Wolf had taken him as their Beta, and he was convinced that they thought him as their surrogate father.

"You saw me go to Jonas's office," Oz stated.

"Yeah, Jamie keeps tabs on you. She worries, Growl," Maxi shifted closer.

They all worried, Jamie was just the most vocal about it. Jamie had only tried to pop the locks on their cages the night that the doctors and trainers had decided Oz had outlived his usefulness as a training tool and were going to put him out of his misery. She alone had been the one to overhear their plans and the Jaguar had flipped out. Jamie had been half in love with him forever, and to hear of his eminent destruction had sent her over the edge.

"You all worry too much about an old man," Oz smiled.

"Evasive maneuvers are not cutting it, Growl," Sampson shook his dark head.

"Who were the VIPs' in Wyatt's office?" Maxi narrowed her eyes.

"Old friends who thought I was dead," Oz hedged. "Jo's genetic donor."

"What?" Maxi straightened away from him.

The kids all piled into the room then, from wherever they were hiding. Melina was wrapped between the Wolves Ivan McNally - the boy who could have been Jesse McNally's younger brother and probably was - and Blaylock Judge, who'd been only categorized as 'Winchester donation one'.

Jocasta barreled down on him, the Lion male - whose genetic donor was ironically enough, Jocasta's donor's fiancé - Lucian Miller hot on her heels. Kelsi, Jamie and the Jaguar male, Remington Talbot finished off the group. None of them looked happy.

_"My_ genetic donor? That Summers' chick?" Jo demanded. "What did she want?"

"Jonas brought her in, trying to figure out if her organization knew about the labs you were created in."

"And did she fess up to making a kid and then leaving it in the tender mercies of our Trainers?" Jo crossed her arms, and Oz saw Buffy standing in front of him, nearly two decades gone.

"Jo, Buffy didn't know about you, and when she saw Kelsi and Melina, it broke her heart," Oz said quietly.

"What?"

"I never told you how much you all reminded me of home," Oz cleared his throat, his eyes landing on Ivan. "I knew your brother Jesse. He died when he was a sophomore in high school. You look just like him."

"So, we're basically doppelgangers for your old high school buddies, Growl?" Jo demanded, hurt clear in her voice and posture.

"No, I've never mistaken you for anyone but yourself, Jo. And you're not dopplegangers or full on clones. You've got Buffy's hair and her eyes, but you've got the stamp of someone else in you, cub," Oz gave them a small smile.

* * *

Faith Lehane was pretending to do the paperwork for her Slayer squad's last mission. What she was really doing was playing Bejeweled while hiding from Dawn and Co. She didn't even look up when the door shut quietly behind whoever had the balls to come into her office uninvited.

"I'm busy, and you should know better than just sneakin' your ass on in here," her eyes ticked up to Xander's face. "Xan."

"You beat 200K yet?" he asked, pulling out the seat across from her desk.

"Hell no, D's still cock-blocking me on it," Faith grinned, leaning back as the buzzer went on the game. "What can I do for you?"

"Breed business," he looked miserable as he said it, which had her straightening in her seat.

"You name the place, and my girls will be there ready to fight."

"We don't need the Alpha squad," he licked his lips. "How's Letty doing?"

"Tough time of the year for her, but she's a strong girl," Faith's jaw tightened. "What does Nicolette have to do with Breed business? She hasn't manifested slayer powers, Xan. She's only eight. What's going on?"

"Oz is at Sanctuary."

"Wolfboy? What's he doing there?" Faith frowned. "Where the hell has he been for the last decade? We could have used him in the Werewolf negotiations."

"The Genetics Council - or what was left of it - found him and used him to train Breeds," The muscle under his good eye ticked.

"What?"

"They used him to slaughter and train a mixed group - Felines, Wolves and a couple of Coyotes. It was forty strong when they found Oz."

"How many walked out of that lab?" Faith felt ill, remembering the half-dozen lab raids she'd assisted on with her squad.

"Eleven, including Oz."

"Motherfucker!" Faith dug her nails into her palms.

"Yeah, that was our thoughts, when he told us. It gets worse."

"Worse than one of _our_ people being experimented on? How much fucking worse can it get, Xan?" Faith snorted.

"They used his wolf to kill the other thirty Breeds, but wouldn't let them kill him," Xander took a deep breath. "And almost all of the kids - because none of them are over twenty-five - were created using Old Watcher's Council DNA samples."

"What?" Faith's jaw dropped open.

"They used Molly's DNA, they used Kendra's, and they used Nikki Wood's. That's why I'm asking how Letty is doing."

Faith closed her eyes and counted to ten, like Red had shown her. Because otherwise, someone would be seriously fucked up right about now. As it was, her hands would be a bloody mess in a few minutes.

"Letty is gonna be pissed that she's got a half-aunt I never told her about," Faith sighed.

"How's she gonna feel about a half-sister?" Xander asked it so quietly, Faith wasn't sure she heard him right.

"They used _my_ fucked up DNA?" Faith shoved herself away from her desk, or rather she shoved her desk _at_ Xander.

"And a Winchester's DNA to make a set of Coyote twins."

"The _assassins_ of the Breed world. Made out of my DNA, isn't that fucking fantastic!" Faith leaned over in her chair, her head between her knees. She hadn't freaked out like this since she'd found out she was pregnant with Letty nearly nine years ago.

"Faith -"

"You better call Jonas fucking Wyatt and get my pass renewed for Sancutary, because if I have kids up there, they are going to know I'm gonna draw blood for every thing those bastards did to them - just like I did when -" _they blew up Robin in front of Letty_. Faith closed her eyes at the sudden pain in her chest. Sure, she and Robin had been separated for a long time before his death three years ago, but he was still the father of her only - scratch that - _youngest_ child.

"Already got it," Xander cleared his throat. "We just have to make one stop before we go."

"I'm not throwing Letty into this without scoping out the 'sitch first, Xan," Faith crossed her arms.

"And I wouldn't ask you to, but we have to find their father first. They didn't just steal DNA from us, Faith. They stole it from a lot of people."

"Shit. We're gonna have to find the Winchesters, aren't we?" Faith groaned.

* * *

Jamie had snuck away as the others were arguing with her Growl over the news that they were going to meet some of their genetic donors. The others all had to worry, but not her. Her donor had died in the 70's, nearly four decades ago. There was no one coming for her. She should have feared for what that meant for her Pride, but honestly, that was Jo's personal headache, not hers.

Ely, the Breed doctor was waiting for her. Jamie smiled nervously, praying that what she was feeling was really it - the mating heat. Ely had asked her to check back today for her results, and so they could start her on the hormone therapy if she was.

"Jamie, sit down, please," Ely said quietly as she shut the door to her office behind her.

"So, what's the news?" Jamie smiled at her, her bottom lip between her teeth.

"What have you heard about the mating heat, Jamie?"

"Well, not a lot. It's hush-hush, but just that you start to feel differently towards your mate," Jamie floundered, not liking where this was going.

"And this male that you believe is your mate - have you exchanged fluids? Seminal, vaginal, glandular?"

"No!" Jamie blushed. He would barely kiss her on the cheek anymore, hadn't since they'd escaped the labs.

"And are you noting any increased pain or sensitivity when touched by another male or even by another female? Casual touches of course, say, if you brush against someone in the hall or touch hands when passing a plate or a chart?"

"N-no," Jamie stammered. "What does this have to do with me being in the mating heat?"

"Everything," Ely sighed. "I'm sorry, Jamie, but according to your test results you _aren't_ experiencing the mating heat."

"But -" Jamie couldn't hear over the roar in her ears. "But I feel so differently about him than I did before - Oz - he _has_ to be my mate."

"I'm very sorry, Jamie."

* * *

In the Canadian Rockies, deep in the secret lab the Genetics Council had conveniently 'forgotten', the head of the Old Council stared out at his little kingdom. Had his underlings not gotten wind of the divergence of funds, he wouldn't have had to work with the First Evil in ridding the world of them. He had, after all, conveniently killed off a generation's worth of slayers. He'd provided ample genetic material for this new batch of creations. And had his co-conspirators listened to him and killed the damn werewolf years ago, the Tribe of Ten would still be in his control.

Quentin Travers slammed his teacup so hard into the saucer that it actually cracked.


	5. Every Hit We Take

Title: Distinction of Species  
Author: Jmaria  
Rating: FR-18  
Disclaimer: Joss owns his people, Lora Leigh owns the Breeds (Kripke owns the Winchesters)  
Summary: While the Watchers Council created Slayers out of necessity, the Genetics Council created the Breeds out of greed. When the New Council learns what happened, what will they do to help the Breeds survive?  
Spoilers: General series through _Bengals Heart, _and the anthology _Hot for the Holidays_. Series for Buffy.  
A/N: Oh my god, the angst in my head over this story. Also, I'm working on a few manips of who's who - and figuring out who the genetic donors are for the two males (Blay and Remi). As it stands right now Jocasta (Buffy & a Winchesters kid) is being portrayed by Mika Boorem, Melina by Clara Barret (the girl who played Molly in season seven), Jamie by K.D. Aubert (the second Nikki Wood), Kelsi by Bianca Lawson (Kendra), Ivan by Eric Balfour (Jesse), Lucian by Bailey Chase (Graham), Maxi by Michelle Morgan (Faith & a Winchesters kid), and you can guess who Sampson's donor is.

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Distinction of Species

Every Hit We Take

Oz stared up at the cloudless blue morning, soaking up the sun. Ten years of synthesized sunlight didn't make up for the real thing. And he was avoiding his kids. They'd pestered him half the night trying to figure out where they came from. And he'd willingly told him all he knew or remembered about the people that they were made from. Jamie had slipped out at some point, and that made him nervous. As far as he knew, the rest of them had connections to this world - either from his group or from part of their wider net of connections. Jamie had no one - Nikki Wood's only child Robin had been killed three years ago.

Jamie had been acting off since they'd arrived at Sanctuary. She'd been acting like a girl with her first crush - and it was directed at him. Oz loved the younger Breed, but he loved her like a daughter. It was alarming. A shadow crossed over him, and Oz ticked one eye open to glance up at the pretty Breed Doctor Ely.

"You missed your appointment, Mr. Osborne," Ely crossed her arms under her chest, her light jacket ruffling in the breeze.

"Wasn't aware I had one, Doc," Oz closed his eye, hoping she'd get the hint that he wasn't going to move from the lounge chair.

"You do now," Ely snapped.

Oz's eyes popped open, his wolf catching the scent of her worry. Over the years, and with the continued druggings, he'd gotten to know the beast that lived in his skin. His senses had enhanced enough that he could scent nearly every emotion. He still wasn't sure if it was a side effect of the drugging and his lowered guard or something the Genetics Council had given to him. Ely's worry was enough that he was up and moving. Slow and painfully, but he was moving. She waited on him without making much noise, her hands clenching as if she wanted to physically move him _faster_ but knew thar she couldn't. Once they reached her lab, he tensed - reacting to _her_ tension.

"What I say here _cannot_ leave this office. Do you understand me?" Ely said quietly.

"Why?"

"Because if it does, you not only endanger me, you endanger the entire Breed species. Including the ten Breeds you brought out of Asia," Ely's jaw tightened.

"Fine. You have my word," Oz said it without hesitation.

"You've heard about the mating heat?" Ely asked, relaxing a bit in her seat.

"Urban legend," Oz shook his head.

"Not so much," Ely waited for the look of disbelief to cross his face. "And one of your girls thinks she's going through it."

"Jamie," Oz hissed, running a hand through his hair. "Is she?"

"No," Ely licked her lips and took a deep breath. "But she's convinced herself she is. Which is why I want to run a few tests to see if her instincts are correct - or if it's just wishful thinking."

"What kind of tests?"

"I've got control samples of her bodily fluids, I'd like to combine samples of the male she believes to be her mate with them and see the reaction."

"What do you need me for?" Oz frowned.

"She thinks you're her mate."

"Dammit, Jamie," Oz dropped his head into his hands.

Ely bit her lip, not liking the instinct in her that made her want to go and comfort the man who was obviously hurting because of her revelation. It was bad enough the glands in her own mouth had been throbbing since the moment she'd scented him across the yard of the Ten's cabin. She should have let Jonas deal with this one.

"For her sake, I really hope she's wrong," Oz muttered under his breath. "No one deserves me for their mate."

Ely tightened her own jaw at the pained words coming from this man. She would _not_ let his pain affect her, and she would pray that he was right. She was fairly sure he wasn't Jamie's mate - but she was just as sure he _might_ be her own. And no one deserved a broken Breed as their mate, not even a broken werewolf.

* * *

"I don't fuckin' care, you get that scrawny ass down here or I'm sending Connor after you," Faith snapped her phone shut and stormed out of her office. God, she loved irritating him.

"You get a hold of the Winchesters?" Xander grinned up at her from where he was sitting with Letty and Dawn - who flinched at the mention of the Hunters.

"Yeah, I got a hold of those sons of -" Faith's eyes ticked down to her daughter. "Guns. They're in Reno working a case, but they'll be here as soon as they can."

"You talked to the older one?" Dawn looked away from her as she said it, but Faith could see her breath hitch a bit.

"Who else would I spar with?" Faith smirked. She turned to Xander. "When's Jonas letting us into the Magical Kingdom?"

"Buffy said we're all cleared to go back day after tomorrow," Xander pointed to the coloring book. "You missed a spot."

"I see it, Uncle Xan," Letty rolled her eyes. "I need the purple crayon Aunt Dawn has."

"Oh, sorry, kiddo," Dawn let up her death grip on the crayon.

"They're driving, so they'll be a few days behind," Faith shook her head.

"Did you tell them over the phone?" Dawn frowned.

"Yeah, dropping a bomb about their DNA being hijacked to make Breed babies isn't something you do over the phone, D," Faith shook her head.

"I can't believe the old Council did this," Dawn sounded disgusted.

"Those kids were way messed up," Faith edited what she was going to say. Letty had a good memory where cuss words were concerned.

"Momma?"

"Yeah, babe?"

"They're our babies now, aren't they Momma?" Letty asked, turning around to face her. Her dark eyes were wide with the possibilities of kids her age who weren't Slayer legacies.

"They're not babies, Letty-sweet," Faith crouched down beside her little girl. "We told you that, remember?"

"I know. But they're still ours, right?"

"In a way," Xander said quietly.

"Then everything's gonna be golden," Letty shrugged.

"What makes you say that, brat?" Dawn smiled at her.

"We take care of our own, and when people hurt 'em, we hurt 'em back," Letty shrugged.

* * *

Oz felt like his skin was crawling, and he wasn't sure why. Okay, that was bullshit. He did know why. The Scooby Gang was arriving in ten minutes, and the Ten were freaking out - except Jamie, who'd been in a funk for a few days. He knew why, but she'd been testy with everyone else - including Melina who never wanted anything but to be loved. As the youngest, she normally got it. They protected the youngest as best as they could - as they always had.

He'd wondered why that was. He knew the Trainers and the Doctors had too. The reason their lab had been mixed Breeds was because they'd had issues with labs that were species specific. The Felines had been the first to escape. They'd lost whole Wolf and Coyote labs over the years. They'd thought by creating rifts in the Breeds at a young age based on species would keep that down. But the older Breeds had protected the young - it was the same in any pack or pride found in the wild. Why wouldn't it hold true for Breeds?

Oz knew Jamie was hurting that the tests were telling her she wasn't his mate. He was glad with the results, but part of him hurt to think of her hurting. She'd gotten them out of the labs because his life was on the line.

A knock on the cabin door jarred him out of his thoughts. Luc was the first up, prodded on by a look from Jo, no doubt. He was the biggest of them all, Remi and Ivan just a few inches shorter each. Luc would be damned intimidating to anyone, except of course for the petite blonde and brunette who strode into the room like they owned it.

Oz smiled as Faith caught sight of him.

"Look at you, Wolfboy," Faith grinned, the same grin he remembered from before she went crazy and darkside on them years ago. She strode over to him, ignoring the stiffening spines of the Breeds around her as she wrapped her arms around him. "We'll be hunting those bastards down and I'll be using my knives."

"You still five by five, Faith?" Oz asked as she quickly stepped back.

"Most days, you?"

"I'm not humping anyone's leg or getting bite happy," he shrugged.

"'Atta boy," She glanced around the room. "These your kids?"

"Yeah."

Jocasta was the first one at his side, Maxi flanking his other side as the rest of the Scoobies piled in. Xander, Buffy, Willow and a brunette he didn't recognize. He was shocked when she squealed and ran over to hug him.

"Oz, we're so glad youre alive!"

"Uh, who are you?"

She jerked back from him, her eyes huge and scared. She threw a look back at Buffy, who only frowned at him.

"You don't recognize Buffy's little sister Dawn?" Faith frowned.

"Buffy didn't have a sister," Oz narrowed his eyes.

"Who the hell is she?" Sampson demanded, pushing past them all and crowding Dawn, who stumbled backwards, her eyes going wider.

"Sam?" she whispered.

"How about we all take five real deep breaths five steps back," Xander cleared his throat, gently pulling Dawn away from Sampson. "Why don't you go wait outside with Gray and Letty?"

"But -" Dawn shook her head and mutely retreated.

Willow, who'd been looking so pained the minute she'd laid eyes on him - was the first to speak in the thick silence of the room after Dawn's departure.

"Dawn came to us after you left Sunnydale," Willow's eyes shifted a bit to the side, indicating the lie in her words. "We forgot that you two never really met."

"She is my sister, Oz," Buffy backed up the witch's words.

"How'd she know my name?" Sampson demanded.

"That's easy, kid," Faith answered, her eyes flicking between him and Maxi. "You're a dead ringer for your donor. It just figures that you'd share his name just like Nikki's girl took her name, and my girl chose my middle name."

* * *

Quentin was staring out at the group of six year olds. They'd finally perfected the Breeding process - a lot of crucial information had been lost in the twenty years of their initial escape and come-out. Things had been lost when they had lost the first Lion Breed - Leo - and more had been lost with Callan Lyons' escape.

This new batch - and those that had been made to create better soldiers with rarer species - was leading them closer to the hive mentality they needed to quell all of the rebellions.

Of course, this batch was better because of the Key's involvement. Summers' and Giles' were complete idiots if they thought he hadn't realized the sister was the Key. And they were even more stupid if they didn't think he had found a way to make that work for him.

He was a survivor, after all. And he'd only become a survivor by using whatever slight leverage he had in his possession.

* * *

Graham held Faith's daughter in his arms when Dawn stormed past him, not even making eye contact with him and ignoring Letty's call to her. The eight year old huffed in indignation as she was ignored by her favorite Aunt.

"Shh, Let," Graham soothed her down with a quick grin.

"Aunt Dawnie never ignores _me_," Letty pouted.

"Something must have happened in there to get her all riled up," Graham said without thinking.

"I'll cut 'em if they hurt my Aunt Dawnie," Letty wiggled free of his grasp and raced to the door before he could react.

She jerked it open and slipped through her aunts' and uncle before coming to stand in front of a pretty girl who looked a little bit like her Momma. Hands on her hips, and a glare that she'd perfected in her mirror every night, she stared down at the girl.

"What did you do to my Aunt?"

The Breed girl frowned down on her, and Letty just jerked her chin up in defiance. She kept eye contact even when her mother dragged her back.

"Reign it in, killer," Faith muttered quietly to her.

"They made Aunt Dawnie _ignore_ me! Cute loveable me," Letty huffed.

"You do realize the kid's a Breed, right?" the dark-haired Breed crossed her own arms.

"What?"


	6. Forever Could Be Severed

Title: Distinction of Species  
Author: Jmaria  
Rating: FR-18  
Disclaimer: Joss owns his people, Lora Leigh owns the Breeds (Kripke owns the Winchesters)  
Summary: While the Watchers Council created Slayers out of necessity, the Genetics Council created the Breeds out of greed. When the New Council learns what happened, what will they do to help the Breeds survive?  
Spoilers: General series through _Bengals Heart, _and the anthology _Hot for the Holidays_. Series for Buffy.  
A/N: Ah, the fun part of deception. Also, this (I've figured it out, finally) part will focus on Oz and Faith's dealing with the backlash of the Tribe of Ten (which is what I'm calling this series - and yes, its a series). Funnily enough, they weren't even who I started out writing this about. Dawn will focus in a more multi-cross piece I'm working on called _Heartbreak Mate_. Xander, Buffy and Graham in a third piece yet to be named. (This is the splitting point for the stories - which is why HM is coming out).

__

**__**

Distinction of Species

Forever Could Be Severed

Faith pulled Letty back behind her, glaring at the girl who was genetically her daughter. Yeah, that big bad bitch attitude was all her. Graham was reaching for Letty and pulling her back out of the room, even though his eyes were locked on the big Lion male standing behind the blonde at Oz's side.

"I gave birth to her, so you can be damn sure my baby girl wasn't born in a lab," Faith snapped the second she heard the door close.

"She sure smells like a Breed to me," Maxi snapped right back.

"Well, she's not. I've been raising her with her father for the last eight years -"

"Doesn't mean shit. You remember the conception night clearly, _Ma_?" Maxi crossed her arms.

"Maxi, drop it," Oz snapped at the girl. "Ignore her, she tends to run her mouth."

"Oh no, baby girl can explain that remark right the fuck now," Faith snapped.

"There's a file about a mile thick on you," Maxi ignored Oz and Jocasta's glares, and Jamie's insistent tug on her arm. Only Sampson was egging her on, but he was a Coyote and they liked to piss _everybody_ off. "Some dick named RW was working you over nice and good. Got paid a shitload too. And I'm guessin' his name wasn't Ron Weasley."

Faith's world dropped out from under her. _I'm looking forward to surprising you_. The exhaustion she'd felt every night they'd been posted together in Cleveland. Robin's persistent calls to the old watcher who was convalescing in Upstate New York. It made too much damn sense - and she wished it didn't.

"She's _mine_," Faith said shakily.

"Faith, come on back," Xander pulled her back gently. Damn one-eyed bastard had been the only one able to pull her back off the ledge when Robin had died. Other than Angel, he was the only man she'd ever let into her life without screwing them blind or using them for something else. Again. Neither of them noticed as the little Bengal's nostrils flared at the contact.

"Maxi, get gone," Jocasta snapped at her little sister. "Sampson, you too."

"You can't -"

"Get out of here, pup," Oz tugged her back.

Being openly reprimanded by her Alpha and Beta was enough to shame the younger Breed, who nodded and slipped quietly out behind them. Faith clenched her jaw.

"Stop."

Maxi and Sampson both hesitated at the door, looking to Jo and Oz for help on what to do. Jo frowned at her, and looked to Oz for answers. Faith took advantage of them.

"We came to make peace, to help you any way we could. One bitchy remark ain't gonna push me away, little girl," Faith said quietly, knowing the Breed's hearing was so much sharper than their own. "Letty's mine - and while I sure as fuck ain't old enough to have given birth to you or your brother, you are part of me too. So you, me and your brother are gonna have a nice little hash out with her," Faith nodded to Jamie who looked shocked at being included.

"Huh?" Maxi shook her head.

"Breaking bad news to me and mouthing off aren't getting you off of having to bond with me, _Maxine_," Faith's grin didn't quite meet her eyes, but she needed something else to focus on besides Robin's apparent betrayal.

"I'm Maxi. Not _Maxine_," Maxi snapped, ignoring the look Oz was giving her.

"Oh, we're gonna have a _real_ nice talk," Faith rolled her eyes, glancing back at Buffy. "You keep an eye on my girl, B."

"You know it," Buffy nodded. They both knew she was safe under Gray's patient eye.

Faith nodded for Jamie to follow her, and the Jaguar mutely did so - even though she was casting wary looks back at Oz and Willow - who'd stepped forward to hug him. Before she knew it she was in the airy kitchen with three twitchy Breeds.

"What's Jams doing in here?" Sampson crossed his arms.

"My god, they gave my attitude to you," Faith shook her head in sympathy.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Maxi growled at her.

"It means, they tried to temper my bitch ass genes with _Sam_ Winchester's. Which explains why you don't exactly go for the kill when you've got your prey backed in a corner, and why he's the one driving them into the corner. Trust me, if you've ever seen me and Sammy fight together, you know that those roles are _definitely_ reversed," she slid her gaze to Jamie. "And since your donor is dead, I'm the closest you have to kin."

"By what connection?" Jamie's shoulders squared and she crossed her arms over her chest.

"My daughter Letty - you come from the same stock," Faith wasn't touching the whole Breed thing with a ten foot stick. "Nikki Wood. Letty's her granddaughter."

"That explains the tagging," Jamie nodded. "They'd be all over the genetic stream. The breeding program definitely tracks that far back."

"What are you talking about?" Faith frowned at them.

"Nikki Wood - according to the files we lifted before Maxi torched the complex to the ground - was part of the early breeding program. They tried tiger, lion and I think even wolf DNA before they thought to use jaguar. About twenty failures, including a latent they let go to term because of some test," Jamie looked at the other two, who'd obviously read more of the file than she had if they knew about RW - the latent. Sneaky little Coyotes. "Still doesn't make me kin to you. Just the latent's kid."

"Who happens to be _my_ kid, your niece or sister or whatever you wanna call her," Faith snapped. "And I wanna see this file of yours."

* * *

The remaining seven Breeds stood around awkwardly for quite a few minutes before Buffy spoke.

"So, this is cozy," she took a deep breath, staring at Jo and Luc. "I wonder which Winchester they used, because honestly - it could get _really_ awkward in here fast."

"Like it isn't already awkward," Jo rolled her eyes.

"Trust me, if they used Dean Winchester's DNA to make you with my DNA, I'm pretty sure it'll crush my sister's heart," Buffy said quietly.

"They used a kid named Milligan and another female named Harvelle with your DNA to make Jo," Lucian supplied.

"Oh," Buffy sighed. "I'm sorry to tell you then that both of your other donors are deceased."

"I thought you all were," Jo shrugged, her chin jerking up.

"You look a lot like her when you do that," Buffy smiled sadly. "Jo would have knocked you flat on your ass."

Jocasta pulled back, blinking in surprise at her name. Buffy cocked a brow.

"Jo-Ellen Harvelle and Adam Milligan, two kids caught in a war they never even knew they were fighting," Buffy took a deep breath. "Like all of your donors, really. Kendra, she was fifteen and I got her killed. Molly - not much older, went into battle and never came back out. Jesse - was payback for me saving Willow."

"Wow, you've got such a martyr complex," Jocasta crossed her arms, eyes narrowing.

"Comes to you when you hold lives in your hands, but I'm pretty sure you already know that, Jocasta."

"On that note," Xander cleared his throat. "We actually came here with an offer."

"What kind of offer?" Oz frowned, catching his old friend's words.

"'Room and board' kind of offer," Xander answered. "You're worried about your kids getting split up between Haven and Sanctuary, we've got a solution for that."

"Sunnydale's gone," Oz said quietly.

"Yeah, but we've got a small compound for Slayers a few miles south of here. You and your kids are more than welcome to join us there if you like," Willow smiled brightly at him.

All the Breeds stiffened at this invitation. Torn between wanting to join and wanting to decline the offer. They didn't know these people - and Oz was more than a decade removed from their inner circle. Being around Slayers and back in that fight only put more opportunities for blood to be on his hands.

"We'll need to think on it," Oz answered shakily, thinking of the pretty Breed doctor, all of her tests and Jamie's belief that he was her mate.

"The offer's open-ended. No expiration date, Oz," Willow'a smile dimmed a bit, but it was all he could promise his old friends - he had too many lives in his hands.


End file.
